Statistics professor wins the lottery

Nov 14, 2016, 11:17 am (33 comments)

Powerball

FAIRFIELD, Ct. — What are the chances that a statistics professor would end up winning the lottery?

Nicholas Kapoor, who teaches students in his accelerated statistics class at Fairfield University about probability, would definitely know the answer. But now, he doesn't only know the math solution — he knows the real-life chances.

The Connecticut professor recently won $100,000 playing the lottery!

He said his winnings have created a great way to demonstrate for his students how hard it is to win something in the real world.

"I try to bring as many real-life examples into my classroom as possible because these kids need to be ready to compete with the entire world, so I try to make sure in my classroom what they're learning can be applied to the real world," Kapoor said. "One way to do that is to talk about things that happen in real life and one of them is the lottery."

He said he teaches students about winning the Powerball, so now that his quick-pick ticket won he's going to try to incorporate that into his lesson plans.

He said he'll still continue to play the lottery about once a week.

Kapoor said he doesn't want to touch his earnings until next year, and he may use his prize money to go on a trip.

Fox61

Comments

wander73's avatarwander73

This professor needs to be a member on this site .   Then show some of us what he does and how he did it.  Yet it was $100k so probably about $70 - $85 k.  Not bad.

CajunWin4's avatarCajunWin4

The Professor  bought a quick pick and won . He didn't use any math to win !  Anyone else would have had the same chance at winning .

wander73's avatarwander73

He bought a quick pick.  I might not have read that part.   On top of that he isn't spending his winnings so good for him.  He is smart then.

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Professor Nicholas Kapoor will show his students how difficult it is to win when playing the Lottery.

 He will talk about the odds and the taxes he now owes.Approve

VenomV12

He played, that's how he won, end of story. The only statistic you need to know is that you have a 100% chance of not winning if you don't play. Wink

cbr$'s avatarcbr$
Congratulation to Nicholas Kapoor on his win. He win on a quick pick.
Professor Kapoor , now need to turn his winning numbers into a statistical
problem to incorporate in his lesson. His class will love that. It a great idea.
                                                     Party
Sunglasses

100 000 is first price for their C5

That is not 5/75, 5/50, 5/39 or 5/37. That is 5/35.

There is no information about the taxes over the game.

Ant by the way, it was not pick 3 or scratch cards in that case.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Long Odds

Quote: Originally posted by Sunglasses on Nov 14, 2016

100 000 is first price for their C5

That is not 5/75, 5/50, 5/39 or 5/37. That is 5/35.

There is no information about the taxes over the game.

Ant by the way, it was not pick 3 or scratch cards in that case.

Story mentions Powerball. Presumably had 4 of 5 plus the powerball number while playing the power play- if power play was 2x, $50,000 prize doubles to 100K.

Stack47

He said his winnings have created a great way to demonstrate for his students how hard it is to win something in the real world.He said his winnings have created a great way to demonstrate for his students how hard it is to win something in the real world.

I always thought the lotteries showed pictures of winners holding a giant check to make it look like it is easy to win.

noise-gate

Nice story- Good job Nicholas.  At least his not telling the world or his students that he created a "winning formula." Hat's off Professor . Wouldn't it be something if he said his winning formula is going to bring jobs back to America. Big Smile

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Nov 14, 2016

Nice story- Good job Nicholas.  At least his not telling the world or his students that he created a "winning formula." Hat's off Professor . Wouldn't it be something if he said his winning formula is going to bring jobs back to America. Big Smile

Not to worry, jobs are coming back.Wink

Congrats to the lucky guy.

Sunglasses

Quote: Originally posted by Long Odds on Nov 14, 2016

Story mentions Powerball. Presumably had 4 of 5 plus the powerball number while playing the power play- if power play was 2x, $50,000 prize doubles to 100K.

Did he buy a qp? Maybe they just all try their luck.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Nov 14, 2016

He said his winnings have created a great way to demonstrate for his students how hard it is to win something in the real world.He said his winnings have created a great way to demonstrate for his students how hard it is to win something in the real world.

I always thought the lotteries showed pictures of winners holding a giant check to make it look like it is easy to win.

LP members who regularly post predictions already know how hard it is to win even the minimum prize more often than the overall average let alone one of the top prize or a jackpot occasionally. Wink

LottoMetro's avatarLottoMetro

All of my stat professors in college played the lottery for this very reason....to use it as an example.

I'm sure Nicholas will remark on all the times he didn't win when telling his class all about it.

Of course, now that he has won, those other times don't really matter. But for the rest of us they do LOL

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"What are the chances that a statistics professor would end up winning the lottery?"

Even if he never played the lottery the professor could probably tell us that it would depend on how many lottery tickets are bought by statistics professors. Just like the chances that a guy named Englebert would win the lottery.

Perhaps the most significant thing in the story is that a guy who's a statistics professor bought a QP instead of spending time choosing numbers that weren't randomly generated.

Soledad

"But now he doesn't only know the math solution.."

That's funny. What is it? I'm sure it will change with the next drawing..lol...funny

"What are the chances..."

I'd say very high...

But Congrats, because it is not easy especially with the major jackpot games. I couldn't even begin to imagine a "solution" to tackle those.

gocart1's avatargocart1

Quote: Originally posted by wander73 on Nov 14, 2016

This professor needs to be a member on this site .   Then show some of us what he does and how he did it.  Yet it was $100k so probably about $70 - $85 k.  Not bad.

I Agree!...........PartyUS FlagParty

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by Long Odds on Nov 14, 2016

Story mentions Powerball. Presumably had 4 of 5 plus the powerball number while playing the power play- if power play was 2x, $50,000 prize doubles to 100K.

Odds of Matching 4 +1: 1 in 913,129.18

Sunglasses

Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Nov 14, 2016

All of my stat professors in college played the lottery for this very reason....to use it as an example.

I'm sure Nicholas will remark on all the times he didn't win when telling his class all about it.

Of course, now that he has won, those other times don't really matter. But for the rest of us they do LOL

How many mathematics professors are there in the USA playing lottery games? If every professor buys a ticket one or more times a week, how many professors win how much? Put costs and wins in a table by game.

What are people expecting to read when they see an article starting with, a professor won in the lottery? I'd say, people want to know how he did it to copy him.

LOL

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

ALL you Nauti Buoys and Gulls:

Nicholas said he teaches students about winning the Powerball, now that his quick-pick ticket won he is going to try to incorporate the Psykomo Theory of LUCKOMO in his core studies of winning the lottery!                                                    Party Dance  Party     

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by psykomo on Nov 15, 2016

ALL you Nauti Buoys and Gulls:

Nicholas said he teaches students about winning the Powerball, now that his quick-pick ticket won he is going to try to incorporate the Psykomo Theory of LUCKOMO in his core studies of winning the lottery!                                                    Party Dance  Party     

LOL

Think's avatarThink

If he knows Tipton I would say his chances are really really good.

LottoAce's avatarLottoAce

Quote: Originally posted by wander73 on Nov 14, 2016

This professor needs to be a member on this site .   Then show some of us what he does and how he did it.  Yet it was $100k so probably about $70 - $85 k.  Not bad.

yeah, wouldn't it be wild if he joined this site, and posted his work?

LottoAce's avatarLottoAce

Congrats to the professor. maybe next time he will hit it big and end up on an island with Mary Anne!

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Quote: Originally posted by psykomo on Nov 15, 2016

ALL you Nauti Buoys and Gulls:

Nicholas said he teaches students about winning the Powerball, now that his quick-pick ticket won he is going to try to incorporate the Psykomo Theory of LUCKOMO in his core studies of winning the lottery!                                                    Party Dance  Party     

I Agree! Once you buy your ticket, it's all about luck and nothing else.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Why is a Statistics Professor who should be developing and using fancy systems buying quick pick tickets? Inquiring minds want to know. This is completely counter intuitive and probably represents some kind of a paradigm shift.  Ahhhhh forget it. The guy just bought a ticket and won. Let's not overthink this.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

From the OP;

He said he teaches students about winning the Powerball, so now that his quick-pick ticket won he's going to try to incorporate that into his lesson plans.

Statistics professor + QP = $100,000 win. He that has ears let him hear.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

Quote: Originally posted by mypiemaster on Nov 15, 2016

Why is a Statistics Professor who should be developing and using fancy systems buying quick pick tickets? Inquiring minds want to know. This is completely counter intuitive and probably represents some kind of a paradigm shift.  Ahhhhh forget it. The guy just bought a ticket and won. Let's not overthink this.

MPM:Party

My aunt use to say a long time ago...."It ant easy to win lottery"!!!!!!!!!cause, it......takes "LUCKOMO" 

                                                     PartyDance..............................................Sulk Off      Party

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

OK kiddies,  lotto is for suckers.. now out of my way, I gotta take my Ferrari in for a service.

Bleudog101

Congratulations Mr. Kapoor.  Now you should join the LP membership as others have mentioned. 

I know there is a national media gal with the same name out there.

Find it ironic that when the lotteries get sky high, the news shows put some statistician on there saying you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning and other crazy scenarios.  Funny though how they seem to crawl back under the rock they came from and no word from them after the big win.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Do not forget that our fearless leader Todd Northrop created the quote, " I was hit by lightning at the same time I was being eaten by a shark".

 That famous comedian joked about creating a "Slum Shark Gillionaire". 

 Lottery Post Search function has it at, Lottery Post Founder featured in John Oliver HBO Nov. 10, 2014

Hilarious!!LOL

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

This is a non story.  If he picked his own numbers I'd be impressed.  He bought a QP.

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